I historically had put it more in the category of not reserving a room with two beds when I only need one unless that’s all that’s available, but perhaps should reserving ADA rooms be treated more similarly to not parking in handicapped designated parking spaces (of course, that is a legal issue, so I know it’s not a totally apples to apples comparison). I’ve never viewed it in that black or white of a way before, but that doesn’t mean that my view is necessarily the correct one. This includes when the room type is the last available, when it is less expensive, when it is the only room type available on points, etc. Some clearly feel that it is never okay to reserve an ADA room type unless you actually need the room modifications made available in that type of room. However, based on feedback in the previous post on the topic, perhaps even that approach is flawed, or at least deserves some additional thought. I’ve certainly been assigned an ADA room a number of times even without reserving that room type, especially if I booked via Hotwire or checked in late in the evening to a hotel. This combined with letting the hotel know that I don’t actually need that room type seemed like a reasonable solution that didn’t intend to slight anyone or hog a room type I didn’t truly need. However, when it was the only room type left, I didn’t personally view it as an ethical slight to book the room even though I don’t need the specific ADA implements since it was the only option presented. My view was always that I would never select an ADA room over other available room types when given the choice for a number of reasons. However, this post isn’t really about what happened in my specific situation, but rather a broader look at who should be reserving ADA rooms in the first place. In that case I booked the ADA room on points since it was literally the only award option available for our dates, and since then I have contacted the hotel and let them know I don’t actually need an ADA accessible room-type and they have moved us to a “standard” room thus freeing that room type up in case someone truly needs the ADA room type. In my case clicking that button presented an award room option when there previously were not any options at all for the dates/resort I was after. Once upon a time I’m pretty sure that ADA room types automatically displayed along with the other search results, but now they only display if you opt in to seeing those results.
This wasn’t something that I thought should be done every time you needed a room, but when everything else has failed it was one more thing to try.
HEARING ACCESSIBLE ROOM MEANING HOW TO
The original post was on how to potentially display additional award availability on by also including ADA rooms in your search. A few days ago I wrote a post that stirred up a fair amount of unintended controversy (and name calling), and since it has been on my mind pretty frequently since then, I wanted devote another post to the controversial part of the topic since it seems to be one that deserves some additional thought.